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Bitter fruit exhibition : The subjects of the exhibition are all from the outskirts of Pretoria and all suffer from poverty. -
Bitter fruit exhibition : David, is one of the residents who agreed to be photographed. -
Bitter fruit exhibition : Hendrick is also a poor resident of the outskirts of Pretoria.
“Bitter fruit – bittervrug”, a photographic exhibition by German collaborative team Suzanne Schleyer and Michael Stephan, together with Johannesburg artist Stephan Erasmus, opened at North West University Gallery in Potchefstroom on 17 February.
This poignant photographic exhibition and sound installation portrays an uncomfortable reality of current-day South Africa: white poverty.
The project is the outcome of a 2010 residency undertaken by collaborative artist team Suzanne Schleyer and Michael Stephan to the Sylt Foundation, situated on the German North Sea island of the same name.
The residency and subsequent project was facilitated through the Sylt Foundation and its sister organisation, the Johannesburg-based jozi art: lab.
Thirty black-and-white portraits of the mainly Afrikaans inhabitants of two destitute communities on the outskirts of Pretoria – Maranata and Eagles Nest – confront the viewer with issues that we prefer to overlook.
The curator of “Bitter fruit – bitter vrug”, Indra Wussow says the exhibition came about as she was “extremely interested in showing another side of South Africa’s social transformation”.
She also says the different perspectives the Afrikaans and German artists took – that of the insider and the outsider – unveils social and political issues.
For more information, contact Indra Wussow on 076-501 42 91 or at indra_wussow@yahoo.de.
